The Canary Islands go to the ITB in Berlin to recover the 4% of German tourists lost in 2023

«Despite the economic situation that Germany is experiencing, its citizens continue to choose the Canary Islands as a priority vacation destination, especially in winter, and It is a market that allows us to fulfill our strategy of increasing spending and not the number of visitors.», stated the Minister of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands, Jéssica de León, who detailed in a press conference, together with the managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo, the strategy that the archipelago will deploy at the fair.

Last year, German tourists who came to the islands generated a turnover of 3,635 million euros, 21.1% more than in 2019 (3,002 million euros) and 18.8% more than in 2022 (3,059 million euros). euros). “Some positive billing details taking into account that last year they arrived fewer German tourists than in pre-pandemic timeswith 2.5 million,” added De León.

Although 2023 closed with an increase in German tourists compared to 2022 of 12.2%, pre-covid levels have not yet been completely recovered (-3.8%). The islands that exceeded the number of German visitors received in 2019 were Tenerife, with 13% more; El Hierro, with an increase of 5.6%; and Fuerteventura, with a growth of 4.1%, so Gran Canaria, LanzaroteLa Palma and La Gomera were largely responsible for the decline in German tourism.

German economic context

De León valued the importance of data registered in the archipelago, taking into account the economic situation of Germany. «This country, which has traditionally been the locomotive of Europe, was the developed economy with worse growth data in 2023. Firstly, due to the pandemic and, subsequently, due to the war in Ukraine, which has seriously hit the German economic model.

This situation means that “currently, consumer confidence is at levels well below pre-pandemic levels, which maintains the very high savings rateabove 20% of disposable income, and consumption that has not finished taking off,” explained the counselor.

In line with these economic foundations, De León argued that German travel decisions have been postponed, contrary to what has been happening in other markets, which have shown a very high willingness to travel after covid, despite the fact that the economic situation was not very favorable. “Despite this economic context, we can confirm that at the end of 2023 the recovery of the German market in the Canary Islands became a reality,” said the counselor.

For the first quarter of 2024, the Bundesbank estimates that German GDP will once again register negative growth although, as a positive fact, it considers that the economic situation could reverse in the coming months as a consequence of the improvement in disposable income, which will allow an improvement in consumption and travel “partly motivated by the change in mentality that they are experiencing the Germans, who now want to enjoy the present, experiences and trips more,” added the counselor.

In fact, the yearstarted in a very positive way for the Canary Islands. In January, the arrival of German passengers increased 11.1% year-on-yeara growth that, depending on the air capacity for sale, could increase until March, a month in which the increase will be much higher due to the change in the calendar of the Easterwhich last year was held in April.

Reduction in carbon footprint

Supported by these data of recovery of the German market, Tourism of the Canary Islands attends the ITB, which is held in Berlin from March 5 to 7, with an 825 m2 stand that will host 140 attendees between participants and collaborators, who will be joined by a hundred Canarian companies.

As explained by the managing director of Tourism of the Canary Islands, José Juan Lorenzo, this fair will once again emphasize improving sustainability. “The global carbon footprint of our assistance has been reduced by 0.68% this year, when it reaches 81.2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent,” Lorenzo explained. Transportation continues to be the main emitter with 75.23 tons, which corresponds to 92.4% of emissions.

«On the contrary, the most striking reduction occurs in the carbon footprint generated by attendeecompared to last year drops 21.2%going from 736.6 kg of CO2e per person to 580 kg of CO2e,” added the managing director, who explained that this notable decrease is due to accommodation, whose emissions have dropped by 60.3%.

«Concern about the carbon footprint generated by tourism is widespread throughout the tourism industry and, in the case of the Canary Islands, we lead this commitment to climate neutrality with our integration into the Glasgow Declaration, the Action Plan Climate and digital tool Journey to Decarbonization, which we make available to companies for free so that they can calculate their emissions with the aim of reducing and compensating them,” Lorenzo highlighted.

Precisely with the objective of offsetting the carbon footprint, the managing director announced that in October a tree plantation will be carried out with the Foresta Foundation in the Canary Islands. “In addition, there is in the process of publication the competition to tender the design and construction of the new stand that the Canary Islands will take to the three most important tourist fairs and that will be even more sustainable than the current one», Lorenzo concluded.

30% less electricity consumption

Turismo de Canarias will display an 825 m2 stand in Berlin, 75 m2 more than in the last edition since it will have two additional halls. The space stands out for its striking design and its 16 large aerial cubes with a strong visual impact, which function as enormous showcases of the Canarian tourist offer and where audiovisual images of the eight islands are projected. Also I know projection screens multiply on the stand compared to ITB 2019, going from nine screens to 21 in different formats.

The installation of equipment, electronic devices and lighting is carried out with LED technology, which achieves greater luminosity with lower consumption of electrical power. In fact, with respect to the installation of the ITB 2019, a rreduction of total electrical consumption of 30%.

In addition, fully stackable furniture is used to reduce the volume of material to be transported, thus reducing the carbon footprint. From the conception of the stand, a reuse plan is generated for almost all of its components, as well as a recycling plan for disposable materials, placing special emphasis on the redesign of spaces to minimize the impact of their transportation.

The main elements are made up of easily removable and stackable parts, greatly reducing the amount of space and weight. All this new rationalization and efficiency policy leads to a 20% reduction in transport volume, by eliminating the use of a truck. Throughout the different fairs, with this stand it has been possible to achieve a reuse of materials close to 85%, without compromising the final quality of the space.

In addition, Turismo de Canarias will once again deploy at the ITB the digital application that replaces paper and allows users to have a more personalized and individualized experience of the destination.

The stand, co-financed with Feder funds, will once again feature the successful Zumería aimed at supporting the promotional efforts carried out by Turismo de Canarias to promote the islands as a quality and gastronomic destination. A strategy that will be reinforced with the space for tasting Canarian products and wine tastings by the public company GMR, attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Sovereignty, as well as with the presence of Hotel students Escuela de Canarias (Hecansa), a public company dependent on the Ministry of Tourism and Employment.